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Populations in four justice of the peace precincts range from around 190,000 in East Bexar County to about 635,000 on the North Side. Commissioners Court precincts have populations from about 425,000 to 450,000. Five full-time and one part-time judge are unequally divided among the precincts. As a result, case loads handled by the judges and the 79 deputies spread throughout the precincts also vary widely.

The justice of the peace lines were last redrawn in 2001, when Bexar County eliminated a fifth precinct in an effort to save money. After his precinct was cut, Constable Ruben C. Tejeda filed a Voters Rights Act challenge that led to a legal battle costing the county $1.1 million. In 2004, a federal judge ruled to uphold the county's redrawn maps. Now in Precinct 1, Tejeda said he also supports the proposed changes.

Commissioners unanimously voted to contract the law firm Bickerstaff Heath Delgado Acosta LLP to come up with maps, which are due next month. The redrawn precinct lines do not require voter approval.

In other business:

More Information

By the numbers

JP/Constable Pct. 1: 352,053 residents, 2 judges and 29 deputies

JP/Constable Pct. 2: 599,872 residents, 2 judges and 22 deputies

JP/Constable Pct. 3: 635,935 residents, 0.5 judges and 19 deputies

JP/Constable Pct. 4: 192,584 residents, 1 judge and 18 deputies

Source: Bexar County

Commissioners approved applying a $10 fee to all new lawsuits filed in Bexar County District Court after Jan. 1 to help fund Clerk Donna Kay McKinney's archive efforts.

“We have some of the oldest records in the state,” McKinney said, “and I'm in the process of preserving the oldest lawsuits we have in the district courts, but this process is very expensive.”

All of the lawsuits from the days of the Republic of Texas are being preserved, she said, and eventually, they'll join the rest of McKinney's collection in the county's history museum.

Commissioners also heard from the Bexar County Hospital District, now called University Hospital System, which is proposing an unchanged tax rate of 27 cents per $100 of property valuation. Texas's void of a Medicaid expansion program and other state funding cuts for the uninsured will have a profound affect on the district, said CEO George Hernandez, adding that it's the “right thing to do.”
emoravec@express-news.net